Archives for April 23, 2009

CAAF: Afternoon coffee

April 23, 2009 by ldemanski

• I had seen bits and pieces of Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk on creative genius quoted various places but until recently hadn’t realized it was possible to watch the whole thing online. (Thanks, Quiet Bubble.) If you haven’t watched it yet, it’s well worth a look and a think. It skates dangerously near “Dance like no one is watching” territory near the close, but I think Gilbert emerges mostly unscathed.
• Courtesy of Jacket Copy, a gallery of some of the wondrous treehouses photographed by Pete Nelson for his book, New Treehouses of the World. O, I need a new dacha!
• New York mag’s roundtable discussion of Charlotte Roche’s Wetlands isn’t suffering a shortage of strong opinions (“a loathsome little turd of a novel”). Even better, Jessa Crispin and Kate Christensen are two of the readers taking part.
Image: Pete Nelson

TT: So you want to see a show?

April 23, 2009 by Terry Teachout

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.

BROADWAY:

• Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (comedy, G, suitable for bright children, reviewed here)

• August: Osage County (drama, R, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

• Exit the King (disturbingly black comedy, PG-13, closes June 14, reviewed here)

• God of Carnage * (comedy, PG-13, closes July 19, reviewed here)

• Joe Turner’s Come and Gone * (drama, PG-13, closes June 14, reviewed here)

• The Little Mermaid (musical, G, entirely suitable for children, reviewed here)

• South Pacific * (musical, G/PG-13, some sexual content, brilliantly staged but unsuitable for viewers acutely allergic to preachiness, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

• Our Town (drama, G, suitable for mature children, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON OFF BROADWAY:

• Distracted (serious comedy, PG-13, closes May 17, reviewed here)

• Ruined (drama, PG-13/R, sexual content and suggestions of extreme violence, extended through May 10, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY OFF BROADWAY:

• Love/Stories (or But You Will Get Used to It) (one-act plays, PG-13, vastly too complicated for children, closes Apr. 25, reviewed here)